Transnet’s has commissioned its upgraded 55 km multiproduct pipeline, which will enable it to move four petroleum products from Durban to Johannesburg.
When the 24-inch trunk-line was first commissioned in 2012 it transported only diesel.
Transnet said the upgrade means the pipeline will now be able to transport an additional two grades of petrol, Unleaded 93 Octane and Unleaded 95 Octane. With the new additional products, the pipeline is projected to pump seven-billion litres petroleum products in the 2017/18 financial year.
Commenting on the development on Wednesday, Transnet’s Group CE Siyabonga Gama said: “Our main function is to make sure that we move fuel to all parts of the country and this project will certainly achieve that”.
The pipeline will now move four petroleum products to the country’s economic hub, Johannesburg.
“The successful conversion of the pipeline to the multiproducts line will also enable Transnet to mitigate the security of supply risk during the planned shutdown of Sasol’s Natref refinery this month,” said Transnet spokesperson Molatwane Likhethe.
Transnet said it has invested R30.4-billion to replace the ageing petroleum pipeline, which has been operational since 1965, with a high-pressure multiproduct pipeline.
Construction of the inland accumulation facility at Jameson Park, near Heidelberg, which will be bought into operation in the next two months has also been completed.